I headed back up to the hill were yesterday I had taken the temperature at 2pm. This time it was -0.5 and visibility was down to about 250m. From there I headed into the old growth pine forest back towards Shooters Hill. I was looking to get the perfect lonely snow covered road lined with tall tress photo.

From there I drove through more forest until I came to a logging camp where they were stacking and processing the logs ready for transport, and then back onto the main road. After driving around most of the morning without seeing another person, I came across another car in the forest full of people checking out the snow, it seems I wasn�t the only snow chaser out here after all!

It was starting to get late and I eventually had to go back to the other world in Sydney and resume my "normal life". From Shooters Hill I drove back to Lithgow via Tarana. At Lithgow I stopped in at KFC for some sustenance, and from there I took my meal up to Hassans Walls (1100m) to check out the view south before I headed back. It was to cold to eat outside, so I finished my chicken in the car before getting out to have a look. I was hoping to see snow covered mountains to the south, but I was disappointed to discover that the cloud had ruined any photo opportunity. When I looked the southwest, I noticed that the cloud had become intensely darker than it was anywhere else, but at the time I thought nothing of it.

I jumped back into my car and started to contemplate which way I was going to head back. I decided to head back via Bells Line of Road as the mountains are higher there and so the chances of seeing better snow was a lot greater. But before I could leave it started to rain ice pellets again. Only this time it was a lot heavier than I had seen it all weekend. My first reaction was to turn off the engine and wait to see what was going to happen. I got back out of my car and looked back towards the south west and was gob smacked when I saw that the dark cloud area I had seen before was now nearly on top of me. And man, did it look menacing! I got back in my car and waited. And then it HIT! Powder snow started bucketing down heavier than I had ever seen. I grabbed my camera and ran back to the lookout, and climbed into the cave. (For those who have never been there, there is a small cave you can sit in right on top of the cliff face looking east.) I took a couple of pictures and woo hooed for about ten minutes!! .

Now what was I going to do? The bestest, biggest, meanest front of them all had just arrived and it looked like it was going to absolutely dump snow. But time was running out to leave and I had to work the next day? Snow, work, snow, work, snow, work. Stuff work, I want to see snow! The decision was made, I can work any day, but snow like this, I might not see here again for years. And besides, I had the perfect excuse �sorry mate, but they closed the roads and I couldn�t get back!� The line had been crossed. I run back to my car, jumped in and headed back to Lake Lyle. I knew that Jenolan Caves Road would be closed for sure, but they never close the road from Lake Lyle to Hampton.

As I drove up onto the range behind Lake Lyle the snow became heavier and I knew at that point that this was a major frontal system passing through. I turned left onto the Hampton/Rydal road and headed south to Hampton. I knew that going this way, I would be able to get behind the roadblock that they always erect at Mt Morris on Jenolan Caves Road and I would be able to head back to Oberon.

The next 30 minutes are among the most exiting and the most terrifying I have ever experienced. The snow started getting heavier. Visibility was getting lower with every kilometre I travelled. The grass on the side of the road was disappearing and then it was gone. I was driving along a ridge that was completely exposed to the west; visibility kept dropping. I was following the lines on the left side of the road and driving slower and slower and then the lines disappeared under the snow, so I followed the middle lines to stay on the road, and then they disappeared. I was straining to make out the black bitumen under the snow and then the whole road disappeared and my forward visibility dropped to about 20 meters!!! I couldn�t see anything, not picket posts or fences, nothing but white. It was a complete white out and it was at this point that I started to panic. It was supposed to fun, but at this point I was scared beyond belief.

I was now virtually crawling along at a snails pace. I didn�t know how close I was to Hampton but I knew that I couldn�t stop until I got there, and then on my right side a row of trees came out of the white and immediately the wind dropped, the snow started falling straight, the picket posts came back out of the white and I was still on the road. I had driven into a forest and out of the blinding blizzard back on the exposed ridge. I let out the biggest woo hoo that has ever come out of my mouth. The visibility was still bad, but at least now I had something to use a guide. I drove for a couple of more kilometres and the road turned down a hill and off the ridge and I came across the T-junction with Jenolan Caves Road. I had made it to Hampton.

The traffic on JCR was amazing. There were dozens of cars trying to get back to Sydney from the caves, and as I learned later, the road was closed at Hampton Hotel so everyone was forced to stay there the night. They had people sleeping on the floors! I decided that Oberon would be the best bet for accommodation, so I headed back that way. The drive back was amazing. The snow was so heavy and it was pure dry powder snow. Unfortunately I didn�t get any photos of the blizzard. I just wanted to get to Oberon ASAP and it was too dark to handhold the camera anyway.

Once I got back to Oberon, I drove around town for a while until I lost it at an intersection and nearly did a 360 turn without trying! I decided that it would be safer to call it a night, so I pulled in at the first motel (actually I slid into there driveway at a 45 degree angle). The owner thought it was amusing! After the obligatory phone calls to my boss and my parents to let them know what had happened, I kicked back and watched cable TV.

Monday 29th May 2000

The next morning I woke up to a winter wonderland! It was amazing how much it had snowed. Driving was out of the question, so I grabbed my camera and walked around town.